Gareth A Davies has been a sports journalist for The Daily Telegraph since 1993. He is Boxing and MMA Correspondent. Has been intrigued by fight and combat sports from a young age. Personal sporting passions are rugby, cricket, and martial arts. Also covers the Paralympic Games. Hates getting his hair cut. Follow on Twitter @GarethADaviesDT

Anthony Pettis became the new UFC lightweight champion with a
submission victory over Benson Henderson, Chad Mendes became the first
man to stop Glay Guida with a brutal third round assault, and Josh
Barnett stopped Frank Mir in the opening round in his return to the
UFC after over a decade away.

It was a night when Milwaukee celebrated a champion from its own soil.
He came, he saw, and he conquered. It was a perfect night for Pettis.

Pettis pulled off the armbar submission over Henderson Duke Roufus had
spoken about with Telegraph Sport last week, throwing a curveball to
those who were expecting a stand-up battle, and the possibility if
another showstopper “Showtime” kick.

Working on the theory that Henderson would look to close the range and
smother Pettis with his powerful wrestling game, the Roufussport team
had worked intensively on the ground game in Brazil.

Having been in camp for Jose Aldo and the featherweight title
initially, Pettis had spent periods in Brazil working on his Brazilian
jiu-jitsu. It showed here. He’d worked extensively with Diego Moraes,
the BJJ black belt, drilling many aspects of his submission ground
game. How it paid off…

Roufus had told me last week: “I’m convinced Anthony will get a
stoppage win in this fight. He's special, and I really think he is
going to pull out something special in this fight. It really wouldn't
surprise me if Anthony finished Benson. It could even be on the
ground.”

Roufus had expounded that theory on my UFC World Podcast last week,
explaining how his charge, almost a son to him, had been perfecting
certain moves. With Henderson likely to get top position during the
fight due to his great ground game and wrestling background, leaving
his arm there as he went for a ground and pound attack was always
likely to be one possible way of capturing the belt. It will take some
prising to remove it from Pettis.

That said, Pettis reminded Henderson of his stand-up game with four
brutal body kicks to the left side of the southpaw champion before the
fight hit its denouement on the mat.

Roufus hopes that a unification contest between featherweight champion
Aldo and newly-crowned 155lbs champion Pettis could now be made. It is
certainly the type of stylistic match-up that could create a
super-fight.

Henderson, who was 7-0 in the UFC before this contest, and was
defending the belt for the fourth time, was clearly crestfallen. The
corn rows were certainly an improvement for his visibility, though the
hair mattered not.

It was noticeable that Henderson had to open his mouth at the check-in
Octagonside. To verify whether he had the toothpick in there ? Most
likely.

As is his wont, Henderson was magnanimous in defeat. Both men are
exemplary role models for mixed martial arts, and are likely to have a
trilogy fight. Makes sense, even though Pettis is 2-0 in the series,
having been WEC lightweight champion coming into the UFC.

***

Josh Barnett performed with aplomb against Frank Mir in the
heavyweight co-main event, though it did look as if referee Rob Hinds
had waved the fight off a little prematurely.

Mir was felled by a right knee after Barnett had launched some
powerful attacks up against the Octagon wall, in his first UFC fight
since 2002.

Barnett started fast, applied pressure and landed powerfully, to
finish the fight inside two minutes.

Mir was up quickly and remonstrated with Hinds, yet the lasting
impression is that Barnett looked cocked and ready to unload in this
contest. Impressive.

Barnett won the belt back in 2002, from Hall of Famer Randy Couture,
but was later stripped after testing positive for banned substances.

Whether he still has the desire or vigour to mount a title challenge
remains to be seen, but this victory without question focuses the mind
on several great match-ups in the division of giants for the
catch-wrestler.

Stipe Miocic, Travis Browne, Roy Nelson… all great match-ups. And if
comes through them, Barnett could yet reach the top of the mountain.
At 34, he still has time.

Barnett has now won 10 of his last eleven fights. “I didn’t want to
stop. We’d rather die in there than quit. Frank is the same as me,”
said Barnett.

“That’s the way it goes. You have a job to do. I’ll take the cheers
and the boos, I’ll take ‘em all. I’m glad to be back,” he added,
having fought in six other MMA organisations in the last eleven years.

**

Elsewhere, Big (bad) Ben Rothwell was stoked up after stopping Brandon
Vera in their heavyweight bout. He called out Travis Browne
post-fight. That might be a step too far right now, though Rothwell’s
conditioning looked the best we have seen in his long career.

Dustin Poirier looked back to his best against Eric Koch in a game
featherweight contest, pitching No 7 against No 10 in the rankings,
dominating the first two rounds after escaping Koch’s submission
attempts. The contest was worthy of FOTN honours, given how Koch,
another Roufus fighter, came back in the last stanza.

***

Chad Mendes was the other man to make a major statement in Milwaukee.
Clay Guida had never been stopped or knocked out in his career, but
after winning the first two rounds with more accurate striking, put
‘The Carpenter’ down with a peach of a counter right hook-cum-cross.
He then landed a right upper cut and a series of heavy rights, with
referee Yves Lavigne stepping across them with Guida turtled up and
hurt on all fours.

Mendes hunger to get back in there against Jose Aldo, for the
featherweight title, is self-evident. His footwork, movement and
accuracy was highly impressive, helped in recent times by Duane
Ludwig’s influence at Team Alpha Male.

“I needed to make a statement. I want the belt,” said Mendes. The
statement was made, bellowed out there, as he became the first person
in the UFC to win four straight fights by knockout.